Tang Dynasty (618-907)

Chinese Feudal Society Reached Its Heyday

59 Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty

An Enlightened and Broad-Minded King in History

Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty (599-649) with surname as Li, given name as Shimin, was the most enlightened and broad-minded emperor in history. He was admired to be diligent for his duty and treated people kindly and affectionately. So he created a prosperous time called “Zhenguan Prosperity Period”. (There were a few prosperity periods showing up under reins of some wise emperors. Zhenguan was another imperial title of Taizong.) Li Yuan, Li Shimin’s father was a warlord in the north. He launched an uprising and founded a separated regime named Tang. Li Yuan fathered three sons, with Li Shimin ranged the second. Li Shimin became the military chief at the age of 18, commanding a large group of civil advisors and valor generals. After he conquered all of his opponents, he accessed the throne and became Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong was a king famous for trusting upright officials and dismissing mean ones. (But most of emperors in history were vice versa.) Here was a story: Wei Zheng, the premier, was an honest and frank man who often crossed over with Taizong, and even one day gave Taizong a dressing down in public. Taizong returned to his rear palace with deep resentment, murmuring: “I should one day kill the stupid country folk!” When the queen knew the story, she went down on her knees and said: “Congratulations to Your Majesty! Only a wise king could have such an honest official. This was a fortune for our country.” Taizong then had favored Wei more than ever. Years later, when Wei died, Taizong grieved over a great deal, said: “I’d lost a mirror!” He called for all officials to follow Wei’s model.

But Li Shimin had killed his brothers before he took power, the scenario was called “Xuanwu Gate Incident”. Li’s father at first had appointed the elder son to be the successor, so the show-down of power struggle became inevitable. (The elder allied the younger.) In the incident, Li Shimin himself shot an arrow to kill the elder, and the younger was also killed by the ambushed soldiers. The story “Xuanwu Gate Incident” had become a constant topic for making drama, film and TV soap opera programs.